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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

If you're talking about Summer by Joe Hisaishi, the pianist is still living and all his music and sheet music are copyrighted, so if possible, please try to purchase it rather than get it from an illegal download.

There are mainly two piano versions of Summer, one based on the original movie score, which is this:

And then the one Rob linked above, which is from a collection called Encore, in which Hisaishi re-arranged some of his most famous pieces and recorded them as solo piano pieces. This can be purchased through Amazon, and there is also a CD that contains all these pieces in these arrangements.

Thank you! I checked the youtube link you guys provided here, it is the music that I was searching for. I will check the local library if they have the music sheet in some book, not so sure though, since it's quite new and the composer is still alive. Anyway I guess it's somehow easy to play this music, am I right?

Um, I guess that would depend on your level, what kind of music you usually play, your ability to read music and so on. I do think the Encore version is a little easier than the longer version, but the Encore version presents its own challenges.

But I guess I would rank this as an intermediate level piece, although that's sort of a meaningless thing to say, especially since it's partially based on the fact that I can play this and I consider myself an intermediate-level player!

Actually, this got me thinking about how levels are determined and I found this chart that explains how SheetMusicPlus.com ranks their scores:

Well, I looked at both scores, and I would rank the Encore version as a 6 on the SMP scale and the longeqr version a 5. the difference in ranking is because the Encore version has more 4-note chords, is faster overall in tempo and has more spots where both left and right hand have more challenging rhythms or moe notes per measure. Level 5 is intermediate and 6 is late intermediate by SMP's ranking system. So now the question is whether you consider "late intermediate" easy or not.

Hmm, intermediate itself is not easy for m already, hehe. I wonder is it important to study piano through all these levels? I guess there are many people who just learn piano by themselves, instead of professional teachers etc. I actually just play the music I like, not looking at the level or chords, etc.

It really depends on your expectation. If you are happy with being self-taught and can manage to play the pieces you want to play, then no need to bother yourself finding a teacher. But to me, I prefer having a qualified teacher who can teach me how to play it right, and is willing to listen to my playing unconditionally and gives me comments. Not only does a good teacher teach you how to press the "buttons", but also inspire you and enrich your passions. A bad teacher can kill your passions. So, perhaps, being self-taught and having a teacher give you different learning experiences.

I have been a big fans of Joe Hisaishi since I was a kid after listening to "Laputa" (http://youtu.be/HhL8za8cm7o). When I learned piano again as an adult, my teacher didn't recommend me playing classical music to begin. So, I played quite a lot of my favorite Japanese pieces - Final Fantasy piano such as "Tifa's Theme" and some Hisaishi's such as "Friends", etc. My teacher showed me all the fingerings and that helped a lot... Then one day, I told my teacher that I was really to play classical.

"Summer" is a very nice one and hope you enjoy playing it. I have the full score and PM me if you are still looking for it.